I scratched another item off my “life list” on Sunday when I listened to The Beatles’ “White Album” from start to finish.
This is something that I’ve always wanted to do, but had just never done until this past weekend. Like most of you in the reading audience, I’d heard a number of the songs on this iconic album before, but I knew that I couldn’t honestly say that I’d listened to the entire album all the way through.
Many of you will be familiar with The Beatles, a British rock band formed in Liverpool, England in 1960. “The White Album” was their ninth official album, and was released in 1968. Many music experts considered it to be one of the greatest albums of all time. The proper name for this double album is actually “The Beatles,” but it’s most commonly called “The White Album” because the album cover is completely white with no graphics or text other than the band’s embossed name on the front.
“The White Album” is one of those iconic rock albums that I’ve heard about all my life, and I added it to my “life list” last year after reading that Rolling Stone magazine ranked it No. 10 on its list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” in 2003. The album consists of 30 tracks and is 93 minutes and 35 seconds long. Songs on the album include:
- “Back in the U.S.S.R.”
- “Dear Prudence”
- “Glass Onion”
- “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
- “Wild Honey Pie”
- “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”
- “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
- “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”
- “Martha My Dear”
- “I’m So Tired”
- “Blackbird”
- “Piggies”
- “Rocky Raccoon”
- “Don’t Pass Me By”
- “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?”
- “I Will”
- “Julia”
- “Birthday”
- “Yer Blues”
- “Mother Nature’s Son”
- “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey”
- “Sexy Sadie”
- “Helter Skelter”
- “Long, Long, Long”
- “Revolution 1”
- “Honey Pie”
- “Savoy Truffle”
- “Cry Baby Cry”
- “Revolution 9”
- “Good Night”
Many of you will recognize some of these songs, especially “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Birthday” and “Revolution 1.” The other songs on the album are not as well known, and I actually followed along to all of the songs with lyrics that I looked up online. I think I got more out of the experience by doing it this way, following along with the words as the album played out.
In the end, I enjoyed scratching this item off my “life list” and will likely add a couple of other Beatles albums to next year’s “life list.” How many of you out there have ever listened to “The White Album”? What did you think about it? Which of the songs on the album is your favorite? Which other albums would you recommend listening to from start to finish? Let us know in the comments section below.
2013 LIFE LIST ITEMS I’VE SCRATCHED OFF TO DATE:
- Ate at Big Daddy’s Grill in Fairhope
- Ate at Callaghan’s Irish Social Club in Mobile
- Ate catfish at the Stage Coach Café in Stockton
- Ate octopus
- Drank a fresh lemonade at Toomer’s Drugs in Auburn
- Drank goat’s milk
- Joined the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
- Joined the Sons of Confederate Veterans
- Listened to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” from start to finish without interruption
- Listen to The Beatles’ “White Album” without interruption
- Planted a vegetable garden
- Ran the Battle of Mobile Bay 5K on Dauphin Island
- Ran through the Bankhead Tunnel in Mobile
- Read all the Hellboy graphic novels
- Read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl
- Read MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech
- Read “Savage Wilderness” by Barry Ralph
- Saw the Ginkgo tree in Evergreen
- Visited the grave of Lewis Lavon Peacock
- Watched “Dracula” (1931)
- Watched “Nosferatu” (1922)
- Watched “This Is Spinal Tap”
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